COVID-19 news from across the nation

So far, India has recorded 9,826,775 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 141,772 deaths. A total of 9,324,328 patients have recovered, as per the latest data from the Union Health Ministry. However, there are 3,59,819 active cases in the country, which comprise 3.66 percent of the total caseload.

Hyderabad: Steadily following the trend set over the past few weeks, India's COVID-19 active caseload has fallen to 3.62 per cent of the total cases, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday. The trend of registering more daily recoveries than the daily cases has led to a continuous contraction of India's active caseload, which presently stands at 3,56,546 as on date.

While 30,254 persons were found to be COVID-19 positive in the country in a span of 24 hours, 33,136 new recoveries were registered during the same period. This has led to a net decline of 3,273 cases from the total active caseload in a day, the ministry said.

Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla said the Covid-19 vaccination drive was likely to begin in India by January as his firm — which is testing and manufacturing the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine candidate — was expecting to get emergency-use authorisation by month-end.

Delhi

New Delhi: BJP National President JP Nadda tested positive for Covid-19, he said in a tweet on Sunday. He requested those who have come in contact with him in the last few days to isolate and get themselves checked.

Delhi's COVID-19 situation appears to be coming under control. As per the state health bulletin, there were 1,935 new cases on Saturday with the positivity rate at 2.46 per cent.

"The overall positivity is 2.46 per cent today. This is less than 5 per cent for the last 11 days. The RT-PCR positivity is 5.14 per cent today which was 30 per cent on November 7... the 7-day average of cases per day is now 2,275 which was 7,196 a month ago. Cases are on a decline for a month in Delhi. Please continue to observe all precautions," tweeted Health Minister Satyendar Jain.

Maharashtra

Mumbai:The state health department has proposed to extend the 80:20 reservation of beds in private hospitals until January, as a precaution against a possible second wave of Covid-19 infections and cap charges for beds reserved by the government.

With the post-Diwali spike in Mumbai and rise in active cases in districts like Palghar, Nashik, Nandurbar, Sindhudurg, Washim, and Nagpur since November 20, state health officials said it is wise to continue the bed reservation in private hospitals in case the active caseload further rises across other districts.

Maharashtra currently has over 73,000 active cases. Mumbai, Thane and Pune continue to form the bulk of active infections. Mumbai has seen a rise in daily infections from 400-600 a month ago to 700-1,000 now. Its active caseload stands at 12,423 cases.

Madhya Pradesh

Bhopal: Justice Vandana Kasarekar of the Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court died on Sunday while undergoing treatment for coronavirus at a private hospital in Indore.

"Justice Vandana Kasarekar of the high court's Indore bench died while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in the city. She had been in a critical condition at the hospital since the last few days," district nodal officer for COVID-19 prevention Amit Malakar said.

Gujarat

Gandhinagar: Police have registered an FIR against a popular Gujarati folk singer and 13 others for allegedly flouting COVID-19 norms during a live music show at a marriage function in Gujarat’s Mehsana district, a police official said on Sunday.

Eight of the 14 accused have been arrested following the incident that took place on Friday in Visnagar taluka where a large number of people turned up at the wedding party, he said. The singer has not yet been taken into custody, the official from Visnagar (taluka) police station said.

The state health department has proposed to extend the 80:20 reservation of beds in private hospitals until January, as a precaution against a possible second wave of Covid-19 infections and cap charges for beds reserved by the government.

Odisha

Bhubaneswar:72nd world-famous Bargarh Dhanu Yatra of Odisha has been cancelled in view of the COVID-19 situation. A decision in this regard was taken during a meeting of Dhanu Yatra committee headed by Bargarh district collector on Sunday. The mega event was scheduled to be held from January 18, 2021.